1996-2016中外合作办学20年

Year of the Rooster Party: BI-Fudan grads know no limits

Every year, the alumni and students of the BI-Fudan MBA program get together for an annual party that mixes formal ceremony with hilarious entertainment. The dawn of the Year of the Rooster was no different, with more than 200 alumni — plus admins, teachers, and others connected with the successful program — gathering on a Saturday morning in Hongqiao.

 

On the morning of February 11, the ballroom at the hotel attracted over 200 participants for the annual party of the BI-Fudan alumni network. Usually taking place in the evening, the 2017 event proved that a weekend lunch can be just as festive, not just due to great turnout and the wine and delicacies served, but the creative force that is the alumni network, now over 2,100 strong in total after two decades of this Sino-Norwegian academic collaboration.

 

Before the speeches and entertainment began, alumni and students gathered outside the ballroom for a charity sale of items donated by the alumni, both personal belongings and products from their businesses, with proceeds going to Students' Growth Fund of School of Management, Fudan University, Farmer Workers’ Children in Xingzhi School and postgraduate volunteers  teaching in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Yunnan, etc.

 

This year's party theme was Limitless, a concept echoed in the dress code, which encouraged mixing and matching and sported way more color and stylistic gambles than most gatherings of business people would around the globe. Tang Dynasty officials mingled with Shanghai fashionistas and tourists in Hawaiian shirts, while decadent mafiosos traded jabs with Caribbean pirates and Saudi oil moguls — or so one might have thought, judging by the outfits.

 

The theme of Limitless was not confined to the sartorial choices of the attendees, however. On a more serious note, the speeches held at the beginning of the lunch ceremony highlighted the change-making power that business people equipped with the BI-Fudan program have, whether working in the Chinese market or around the globe. The point of any MBA is to advance from a good manager to an outstanding one, and that is certainly the case for the BI-Fudan graduates, whose work in a wide range of different business fields has been boosted by the critical, multi-cultural teachings of the program, which continues to rise in global rankings.

 

Dean of Fudan University's School of Management Lu Xiongwen praised the graduates as the future of business administration, and cited the Chinese proverb“一唱雄鸡天下白”— the crow of the rooster heralds a new day's beginning — referring not just to the dawn of the rooster's year in the Chinese Zodiac, but the innovative capabilities of those assembled. His remarks were followed with addresses by Executive Director of the program, Xu Huizhong, and Head of BI Alumni Relations, Barbro Kolbjørnsrud, all sounding notes of enthusiastic optimism for the BI-Fudan alumni.

 

The true stars of the show, however, were the students and alumni themselves. In performances that showcased not only talent in music and dance but flamboyant outfits and humorous spectacle, the alumni took a break from their usual managerial office work to cameo in the entertainment business — to the audience's great delight. Before a charity auction raising 24,900RMB, the program culminated with an over-the-top piece of performance art titled "I don't want to go to work," in which these business managers, dressed in a dazzling selection of work outfits (including the aforementioned pirates and Tang officials), self-deprecatingly poked fun at professional life as they danced around stern-looking “bosses” seated on chairs.

 

Who said there was any limit to the creative juices flowing from the BI-Fudan graduates, whether behind a desk or on stage?